Thursday, August 02, 2001
BBC Online - Cult - Buffy - News The cunning duo have admitted to spreading false Buffy and Angel spoilers and scripts to bamboozle fans and the media. These fake spoilers also help to establish who on the set is leaking info about new episodes.
"We're trying to track down where the
posted by Matthew Postgate 8/2/2001 04:54:26 PM
BBC Online - Cult - Buffy - News
url tes
posted by Matthew Postgate 8/2/2001 04:53:48 PM
Thursday, July 26, 2001
OpenWave and Genie sign unified messaging deal
Ian Allison 26 Jul 2001
BT Genie has adopted an application service provider approach with OpenWave's unified messaging (UM), giving business users a single inbox to manage all their communications, while creating a further tie up between the companies. Genie is also delivering the service to its sister company BT Cellnet.
The first deployment of the Unified Messaging solution licensed by Genie is through BT Cellnet's ConnectedMail communication service launched last month - a connected portal for the small-to-medium enterprise (SME).
"With UM you get voice, fax and email in one handy storage place, accessible for all devices. Right away you can see that this will be great for employees that are out and about. For instance you can record a voice mail reply to an e-mail," says Billy Stephens, VP global product development, BT Genie.
"On the SME side this also allows you to pull in other existing PoP mail, a bit like the Yahoos of this world. This is also great for operators. It increases voice traffic and ARPUs and reduces churn as well. It makes it much less attractive to switch," he added.
Not everyone agrees, however:
"UM is the ultimate top-down application that nobody actually wants, but the industry keeps pushing. This is perhaps the first unified messaging deal in the UK, but it's probably aimed mainly at BT's corporate customers," says Simon Buckingham, senior telecoms consultant at
posted by Matthew Postgate 7/26/2001 03:52:32 PM
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
Nine out of ten WAP sites fail usability test
by Will Garside
Monday 23 July 2001
WAP site providers are doing little to improve the tarnished image of the technology, according a survey of European sites.Tests by mobile technology provider Argogroup showed 89% of the 1,596 sites examined failed usability, reliability or interoperability tests. Half of all the sites tested had problems with WML code, causing them to crash.
Nearly a third of the sites had severe interoperability problems between different connection devices such as mobiles and PDAs. Only 11% of the Web sites passed the entire test.
Argogroup would not release a list of sites that passed or failed. Richard Jelbert, chief technology officer at Argogroup said, "I don't think it helpful to embarrass these companies as many of them were probably unaware of the extent of usability problems on their WAP sites."
Jelbert said the survey results should act as a wake-up call and force WAP site developers to audit their sites and spend more money on improving the customer experience, "Otherwise, m-services will not deliver their full potential.
"You have to consider that this is still a new industry and many of the problems stem from the huge diversity of WAP devices, screen types, browsers and available content," he added.
The survey was in part carried out using Argogroup's Wireless Wanderer, a new automated tool that simulates accessing WAP sites via a variety of WAP devices and then tunnels through the content, looking for errors.
Argogroup used the Openwave usability standard for its survey, which may have slanted the results in favour of WAP sites optimised towards Motorola and Samsung products.
Nokia and Ericsson have their own usability standards and both companies have a much wider customer adoption in Europe than Motorola or Samsung. Nevertheless, the survey results did not surprise Lars Vestergaard, research manager for Wireless Internet at IDC.
"User expectations of WAP services have not been met," he said. "However, what is surprising is that the industry has taken so long to rectify problems that have been ongoing for some time."
However, he conceded that the sector had been operating in a tough environment. "Developers of WAP sites have had a rough time over the last year as much of the financing for project has evaporated and much of the content is out of date," he said.
posted by Matthew Postgate 7/25/2001 12:25:31 PM
Wednesday, January 24, 2001
The FT runs a story today in which Vodafone and Telecom Italia Mobile are reported to say that imminent availability of GPRS services is unlikely. Moving to faster, more reliable data rates would certainly help the mobile internet market and allow application developers far more flexiblility. The fact that these two major operators are backtracking form the rather gung-ho ppredictions of last year probably means three things;
There are problems with the technology, unsuprising given the complexity of introducing new infrastucture,
The operators are still deriving considerable and increasing revenue from existing services. This results in institutional stalling only broken when a competitor is seen to have a significant advantage,
That mobile phone operators have learnt from the introduction of initial WAP services and are now managing customer expectations more responsibly, at last......
Telcos doubt timetable set for mobile internetContact Rufus Leonard If you would like to explore these issues wiith us............
posted by Matthew Postgate 1/24/2001 10:46:45 AM
Friday, November 10, 2000
September 25, 2000, 5:32 AM PDTIs it a bird, is it a plane, is it a phone, is it a PDA? Whether we like it or not the range of devices people use to access information will only get more and more Diverse. There will not be a mobile 'standard' such as IE within the web space. Expect to hear more about interoperability over the next year, and talk to us about how we can use design and technology to ensure that the information you want delivered retains its integrity
Motorola, Palm to Collaborate on Webby Phone
posted by Matthew Postgate 11/10/2000 05:46:42 PM
Thursday, November 02, 2000
"The next megaflop, gigaflop, terraflop of processing power in the latest super computer won't change your life, the inexorable connectedness of small computing devices will" James GlieckDespite the bluster of the large 3G license winners the future network is likely to be a composite of technologies. Sure, your principal access will be through a traditional (wow, are they traditional already) mobile provider but alternative technologies will augment their services in specific locations such as coffe shops. The pull of course is that its a lot easier to to make a profit if you have'nt spent billions on a licence not to mention cheaper for the consumer. The network will also be 'mostly on' rather than the 'constant information flow on a deserted beach' idea you see in Nokia adverts. This means synchronisation becomes important. The article below discusses both of these developments...
Red-M boosts Bluetooth expertise of the SyncML initiative
Wexham Springs, UK (October 27, 2000) - Red-M™, a pioneering developer of Bluetooth network solutions and subsidiary of Madge Networks N.V. (NASDAQ NM: MADGF), announces today that it has become a member of the SyncML Initiative. The initiative is dedicated to developing and promoting a single synchronization protocol that can be used industry-wide and across multiple networks, platforms and devices. Red-M will contribute its extensive knowledge of Bluetooth technology to the SyncML Initiative and will be an integral participant in the continued development of the SyncML specification.
The SyncML specification enables improved interoperability between systems and devices. Personal and enterprise information including email, calendars, contact information and other critical data is accessible, consistent and up to date regardless of where the data is stored, giving users unrivalled flexibility.
Red-M was the first company to announce Bluetooth network product solutions on October 16, 2000. The company’s innovative solution includes the 3000AS access server that provides reliable and secure mobile access to the Internet and local Intranet from Bluetooth-enabled devices. The 3000AS, combined with Red-M’s 1000AP access point, enables a Bluetooth network to be provided inside a building or public concourse for the delivery of next generation mobile services across a wide range of applications.
Douglas Heintzman, Chairman, the SyncML Initiative, explains, “SyncML’s objective is to enable effortless access, exchange and synchronization of data across all mobile devices. The establishment of a common specification for data synchronization hold tremendous potential and will lead to the evolution of a large number of new compelling business models. SyncML is eager to have innovative companies contribute to the initiative. We welcome insight, perspective, and expertise to help make the potential of SyncML a reality.”
Simon Gawne, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Red-M, says, “We are developing products which will provide mobile access to the Internet, Intranet, and voice and data services from a wide range of devices including PCs, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) smart phones and other emerging information appliances. The concept of the easy exchange of data over mobile devices is at the heart of Red-M’s business. We are delighted to be part of a group which is actually defining how mobile devices communicate and share information.”
Red-M expects to start shipping first product to initial customers in November.
posted by Matthew Postgate 11/2/2000 10:33:42 AM
Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Our Designers will be dealing with this more and more - chesnut.Jacob Neilsen on Useability and mobile devices. - Written on the 17th September 2000 with some interesting thoughts on the old mobile phone vs PDA evolutionary(Thanks to Luke for this one.)
posted by Matthew Postgate 10/31/2000 06:23:12 PM
